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Psalm 23 is No Joke

Sometimes passages in the Bible can feel mundane. Blasphemer, I know. But I am just being honest.

It’s the same as doing anything simply because you are supposed to. Communion, making that cross on your chest before you do something stupid, throwing salt over your shoulder, reciting Psalm 23 because that’s the way it’s always been.Other times, I read a passage that seems over spoken, over quoted, over played, and God seems to open my eyes and heart and mind all at the same time. I can taste the truth. It hurts in the way that when God revealed himself to Moses on the mountain he could only show the light of himself, not his whole being. It’s too much.After two weeks of an intense life uprooting for my family, we moved nearly all of our belongings to Reno. We live here now.Two weeks is a very short amount of time to make decisions and take action for a family of seven. We sold chickens and chicken coops. We prepared the garden for new comers. We changed addresses and services and mindsets. We found a home for our pooch. We purged no less than 25 bags of garbage, 45 gallon trash bags. We donated a house worth of nonsense to Goodwill.Intense is too casual a word.

We arrived Saturday night and slept most of Sunday. We half-heartedly looked for a house to rent, but I was slurring like a sailor and I couldn’t concentrate on anything but my pillow. Today, however, we are full gusto. I started with a mean game of Blokus with the kids and coffee. Then I opened my bible.

Psalm 23. It seemed trite. After all, when you have been a Christian as long as I have, things seem so early 90s sometimes. And then, I pull my head out and realize God ALWAYS has things to say to me and his word is alive and appropriate in every season of my life. I am such a cotton headed ninny muggins sometimes (aka usually).

My travel bible has an excellent translation:

The Lord is my shepherd;

I have all that I need.

(No house, no job for the summer, no plan for dinner. But I have all I need)

He lets me rest in green meadows;

He leads me beside peaceful streams.(I deserve deserts and swamps and my choices often lead me to vast canyons, but He leads me to amazing views and peace filled valleys.)

He guides me along right paths,

bringing honor to his name.

(I ask for wisdom, and he is faithful to give it)

Even when I walk through the darkest valley,

I will not be afraid,

for you are close beside me.

(I do not know what any second other than this one truly holds, your ways are mysterious, but your faithfulness isn’t. It’s dependable. It’s solid. It’s constant. It’s more than I often think to hope for.)

Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

(Even if it turns out that I am a total screw up, you are for me. You protect me even when I don’t know I need it.)

You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.

You honor me by anointing my head with oil.

My cup overflows with blessings.

(Despite my issues, I want to obey you and you want to bless me. More than sustaining me, you cause me to overflow. You set me apart from the enemy’s plans and offer me life abundant.)

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life,

and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

(absoluteness. Not maybe. SURELY your goodness is for me. I know that you are for me. That means who can be against me? Nothing. Not one person. And forever. forEVER I get to have you as me Lord.)

amen. And thanks Lord. Teach me to bless others as you have blessed me. My thinking is too small. Make it more like Psalm 23. Not at all mundane or ritualistic.